"And here I was thinking you'd forgotten about me," Lady Daria coyly commented.
Her back was to me as she said it. If there was a single word I would use to describe our relationship, 'complicated' would be the first to come to mind. She was and still is my mentor in the mystic arts. It wasn't enough to be the best fighter; a few of the quests I'd embarked on when I first earned the mantle of Champion taught me that I couldn't defeat every foe by simply whacking them with a stick. Some enemies required a deadlier approach.
It had taken half a dozen season cycles (becoming proficient in the use of magic was akin to learning how to read, write, and speak fluently in an ancient language) under her tutelage, but I was finally able to use my ability with an air of confidence. No, no airs. True confidence.
We were also former lovers, 'former' being something the two of us tended to forget as I went on and returned from various quests. But regardless of how magnetic our pull to one another, we sought entirely different things out of life. She wanted to settle down and start a family of her own. I wanted to keep traveling distant lands, discovering treasure, and fighting bandits and monsters. She felt that time was slipping away. I was too busy enjoying the moment. Daria was the yin to my yang.
Despite our vast differences, I knew I could never really walk away from her. Finally, she turned to greet me with that impossibly perfect smile of hers and I nearly melted right there and then. I flashed her one in return.
"Got a minute?" I asked.
"Not for long. Those tend to go by pretty fast, ya know. What do you need?"
Besides you and a bottle of wine?
"Not much," I replied. "Been running pretty low on mana and thought I'd pick up a few vials of potion before I take off."
I fished a few coins out of my pouch as the voluptuous village healer pulled several potions down from a shelf. I only paid for the blue vials, concoctions crafted to restore mana. The red and green vials were on the house. One would replenish my health if it ever came to that. The other would temporarily increase my strength and speed. Daria spoke as she sold me the goods.
"Where's my father sending you off to this time?"
I usually left my assigned tasks vague and ambiguous when questioned by others, but this was a woman I'd never kept anything from and wasn't about to start now.
"Yeah, I'm going to Dulatarth. We haven't received word from them for almost a full season so I've gotta go make sure they aren't planning an attack."
"You really think they'd do that?"
"No. No way. Maybe their messengers just can't make it across the badlands without getting themselves killed. Or maybe they forgot to check in. But do I think our sister clan secretly has it in for us? No. Either way, I'm gonna find out."
Daria gave me the vials and as I reached for them, her gaze held mine. It was only for a few seconds, yet seemed like a lifetime. Neither of us said anything, but we felt it. That electricity between us.
Eventually, she said softly, "Be careful Kaleem. Come back to me."
I had no illusions of anything else. She was going to be the first person I saw when I got back regardless of how badly I was hurt, if at all. There were very few things I desired more than her healing touch.